He did not stay
by athena2212
Summary: Time passes, life changes and feelings dwell. one sided sasusaku


It has been 15 years since Sasuke left the village on his redemption journey. 15 years. Life had passed, Naruto and Hinata , Sai and Ino, Temari and Shikamaru, even Chouji ,were married, had kids. Families of their own. Life had passed.

But not for Sakura, she was still waiting. She'd stop writing letters five years ago when she realized that he was not gonna answer a single one of them. She knew he was alive, she overheard Naruto and Kakashi talk about the updates of his mission. But they refused to tell her anything about him. She got mad the first time she heard their rejection to answer her questions but after a year of trying to have some updates about him other than he's okay she gave up.

The first three years were full of hope, of "what if today's the day?"'s, of yearning, of planning. When she hit the four year mark her friends started trying to set her up with guys. "He's a really great guy, jounin, works at the academy" Ino said -"you should give him a chance Forehead, maybe you'll like him". She never once took them up on their offer.

When the sixth year hit, she broke down. Got a bottle of wine and got drunk alone in her one bedroom apartment. She made enough money for a house but the thought of having a big place all to herself was too depressing. Even the apartment felt huge sometimes.

It was winter time when she realized it had been 9 years since she last saw him. She was leaving her house on her way to the hospital when it hit her. Almost 10 years had passed and there she was, saying goodbye to no one in particular when she left her house to work and saying "I'm back" to the empty walls when she returned. She closed the door and walked to the hospital. She wiped the tears from her face.

It was Naruto's 32nd birthday when she realized fourteen years had passed since Sasuke left the village. The ache was dull but still there. She offered to stay and help clean the house after the party. Boruto and Himawari were playful around aunt Sakura and Hima and her were specially close. She'd always wanted a daughter. She smiled inwardly when she saw Naruto's beautiful family.

After they were done cleaning the kids retired to their bedrooms. Hinata was upstairs tucking them in. Both she and Naruto were sitting on the couch of his living room looking up at the ceiling, the times when they got to hang out just the two of them were very far and few now with their busy lives. Sakura focused her eyes on the picture hanging in the wall of the house near the dining room, the beautiful Uzumaki family. All four of them. She smiled -" you made all your dreams come true Naruto...I'm happy for you ". Naruto looked at her with a stoic expression.

"It's not too late for you Sakura-chan, you can fall in love, meet someone, have some little Sakuras running around"

She looked up at the ceiling, focusing on a random point, deep in thought

"It's okay, I'm okay with staying like this for the rest of my life" he looked at her with surprise in his face. "Maybe it just wasn't for me to begin with..." she stopped for a few seconds..."nobody wants to be with a 32 year old woman who's spent her whole life waiting for someone who has no intentions of coming back, a woman who spent six years writing letters that were never answered. I don't know what it's like to be in a relationship Naruto, I've given away every bit of my heart to someone and now... I've nothing left to give"

He was completely lost for words.

"I... I hope that whenever you feel lonely you come to visit us Sakura-chan, you are family to us. We love you"

"I love you guys too"

She left that night and went home to her apartment.

15 years ago today he left for his journey. She almost forgot but she looked at the calendar and it just hit her. 15 years. How quickly time passes. Life changes, children are born and people die. She's not waiting anymore, it would be stupid to still do. She wakes up every morning in her one bedroom apartment, gets breakfast ready and heads to the hospital. Before locking the door she checks all the lights are off. She puts one foot in front of the other and continues to live this way, with whatever of her heart she didn't give away to someone who just did not feel the same.

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So I love sasusaku but also love a tragic love story. I think that Sakura loves Sasuke deeply and truly and we were truly spoiled that they are canon and have a family. However thing like this do happen in real life and sometimes your feelings do not get across to people no matter how hard you try, and sometimes you just have to give them up. I feel so sad when imagining this scenario and as I said I love a tragic love story. Thanks for reading!


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